Real-Life Titanic II Sinks on Maiden Voyage

Poor Mark Wilkinson. He bought a secondhand, 16-foot cabin cruiser boat for about $1600. It was a fixer-upper, but he was more than ready to take it for a ride along the south coast, near his home in the UK. He did a little fishing in Lyme Bay, but as he progressed on his maiden voyage, a six-inch hole in the fiberglass hull caused the boat to sink stern first. "The funny thing about it," said eyewitness Margaret O'Callaghan, "was that the name of the boat was Titanic II."

"If it wasn't for the harbour master I would have gone down with the Titanic," said Wilkinson (we imagine with a cheeky grin). "It's all a bit embarrassing, and I got pretty fed up with people asking me if I had hit an iceberg." As the boat started to sink, and Wilkinson clung desperately to the nose, the tide swept the boat up (no one has actually confirmed if his arms were outstretched as he vanished). Harbor master, James Radcliffe, helped secure things with a rope, pulling man and ship to safety. "It wasn't a very big boat -- I think an ice-cube could have sunk it," said another eyewitness, gently stroking their yacht.

The original Titanic was the largest steamship passenger liner in the world at the time it took its maiden voyage in 1912. Over 1,500 people died after it hit an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean. James Cameron became filthy, stinking rich off its story after his 1997 movie of the same name starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet made everyone hate Celine Dion just a little bit more.

Movies.com, the ultimate source for everything movies, is your destination for new movie trailers, reviews, photos, times, tickets + more! Stay in the know with the latest movie news and cast interviews at Movies.com.